Linux directory structure, Static/Variable, Nonsharable/Sharable and more explained


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The convention of the filesystem layout of Linux systems is called Filesystem Hierarchy Standard (FHS). The Filesystem Hierarchy System is building upon earlier filesystem layout conventions of other Unix-like operating systems.

On your Linux system a short summary of the filesystem layout should be available on the hier(7) man page. Type  to read it.

First an abridged overview of common locations in the filesystem tree. See below for an unabridged overview of the filesystem tree.

the / directory, the so called root directory
The directories    and   are often placed each on a separate file system (partition) as they don't contain anything needed to start, maintain or recover the Linux system. Moreover the data in each of them can become very large.

A note about the swap area
Although the swap area is in the  (file system table file) it is not a file system. So it is NOT mounted anywhere in the file system tree. The swap area is not mounted, but it is activated.

Where did the names of the directories come from?

 * usr=
 * etc=etcetera

Vragen

 * Waarom mag de kernel van wel op een andere partitie staan dan de /-partitie?
 * Waarom kan /sbin niet op een aparte partitie staan? en /usr met ondere andere /usr/bin en /usr/sbin wel?